Sports Direct boss labels MPs “a joke” and refuses summons

Danielle Hayden

The boss of Sports Direct has labelled MPs “a joke” and refused a summons to Parliament over poor working conditions at his Shirebrook-based firm.

Mike Ashley told Sky News in an interview that he is currently not intending to stand before the select committee at Westminster because he would rather them visit his firm to “see it for themselves”.

This comes after a summons was issued for Mr Ashley to appear before the group of MPs in June, so they can question him about the conditions.

But despite the formal summons, Mr Ashley refused, and said the MPs don’t need to see him.

He said: “In my opinion they are actually a joke.”

He claimed that the MPs don’t actually care about the workers, and are just interested in “the business of politics”.

“I actually care about the people of Sports Direct,” he said. “So I care that they’re forced to come [to the warehouse].”

This summons comes after a national campaign by politicians, unionists, church members and members of the public to unite in protest against “poor working conditions”.

This was revealed in an undercover investigation, which found the retailer’s Shirebrook warehouse ‘exploited’ its temporary staff.

As well as the Shirebrook warehouse, Sports Direct also has around 150 stores across the country, including St Peter’s Retail Park in Mansfield, Bridge Place in Worksop ant The Pavements Centre in Chesterfield.